Monday, September 23, 2013

Diamonds: Spare us the drama, Mr President!

President Robert Mugabe went a notch
higher in a desperate attempt to rebrand himself when he used a
luncheon after the official opening of Parliament to launch a
seemingly spirited campaign against corruption.

Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation chairperson Godwills
Masimirembwa was to be the sacrificial lamb in the latest laughable
pretence against corruption.
At the luncheon last week, Mugabe – who has presided over one of the
most corrupt governments in Africa – began a rebranding campaign as a
true statesman who has a strong position against ills such as graft,
avarice and corruption.
Ironically, his 33-tenure in office is replete with the most
obnoxious examples of corrupt practices that he did absolutely nothing
about before he suddenly found his voice last week after three and
half decades in office.

Let us get down to the facts.

Some of Mugabe’s Cabinet Ministers, including a few he reappointed
for the umpteenth time only last week, are on record as having stated
that they were over 100 percent disabled as a ploy to loot the War
Victims Compensation Fund.I do not want to get into the details of
what was said by the now Police Commissioner-General in terms of his
war injuries when he got his loot from the Fund, which Fund was one of
the many feeding troughs the Zanu PF elite has enjoyed over the
years.
This is the same Chihuri that Mugabe is now portraying as having
been one of the innocent by-standers in the so-called diamond saga
which is about to claim the latest scapegoat, Masimirembwa.
This is not to mention the Willowgate scandal. Despite having a
so-called Leadership Code in place, Zanu PF chefs in the late 1980s
abused a car loan facility and resold the vehicles for high profit.
Mugabe never fired anyone for this vice, except one Maurice Nyagumbo
who fired himself not only from government but also from this earth
when he committed suicide in shame.
Are we now to believe that Mugabe has suddenly found his voice to
speak on corruption that has been a major trait that has blighted his
regime over the years? Is there a catch somewhere? Is he addressing
legacy issues, so that history will at least say he did something about
corruption, albeit in his twilight years?
But the sacrificial lamb, Masimirembwa, is a far much small player
than the main characters we have known to be the big players in this
corruption game. Zimbabweans know that top government officials became
multiple farm owners after a supposedly successful land reform
exercise meant to benefit the ordinary Zimbabwean, not to mention the
number of farms Mugabe himself has personally acquired for his family.
We also still remember, by the way, the
VIP Housing scheme and how it sucked in the first family, not to
mention Obert Mpofu who Mugabe implied was an honest minister who was
unaware of the many shenanigans surrounding the country’s diamonds,
particularly in the Masimirembwa saga.
But this is the same Mpofu who, as Minister of Mines and with a
monthly salary of about US$800, managed to buy a stake in a bank for
around US$35 million.In a country with a leadership that is really
serious about corruption, he would long have been investigated on how
he managed to raise the millions with such a salary.
Tendai Biti, as Minister of Finance, and Morgan Tsvangirai, as the
Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, have had meetings with the President and
Mpofu himself over the non-remittance of billions of diamond revenue to
Treasury. Nothing was done.
But now the President is suddenly serious about the issue of
corruption in the diamond industry as if he has just heard it for the
first time. We are talking here of three Cabinet Ministers belonging to
Mugabe’s political party, three ministers he recently reappointed.
Saviour Kasukuwere, Nicholas Goche and Mpofu were protected by the
police who prevented the Anti- Corruption Commission from searching the
three Ministers’ offices. If the three had nothing to hide, they
ought to have allowed the Commission to execute its Constitutional
mandate and absolve them of any crime.
Now the President wants to tell us that his government, particularly
his party to which the three Ministers belong, is now serious about
dealing with graft. Give us a break!
The simple truth is that Mugabe cannot lecture us on corruption
which has been a major affliction of his party in government over the
years. If he is to catch all the culprits involved in stealing
diamonds, will there still be a Cabinet left, let alone a party called
Zanu PF?
But there is a world of difference between Robert Mugabe and one
Morgan Tsvangirai, who fired an entire council for corruption in
Chitungwiza. The councillors were protected by Ignatious Chimbo, the
Zanu PF Minister of Local Government who allowed them to stay but they
were no longer MDC members.
It is a simple tale of two different leaders, qualitatively.
Believing that Zanu PF is serious about fighting corruption is like
entrusting mosquitoes to lead the anti-malaria crusade.